It is snowing as I sit down to write this month. As I look at the snow, I remember a story I once read. It was about a man who had a little white dog. He took great care to keep his dog looking white; bathing it as much as he could, using special sprays and lotions to keep the fur looking white and at its best.

One morning he woke up to find several of inches of freshly fallen snow. As he look out his yard, he saw a small little dog that looked far from his dog. It’s coat was a dingy off white color. He couldn’t image whose dog it could be. Until that is, it came through the open doggie door.

It was his dog! Inside away from the brightness of the snow it looked just as white as it ever did. But against the bright white freshly fallen snow, one could see that it wasn’t so pure white after all.

You know we are like that some times. We think we are such good clean Christians. Until that is, we stand along side the good clean side of Jesus Christ. Then we look pretty dingy!

1 John 1:8 states, "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."

See no matter how you look at us we are dingy! That’s why Jesus was born!

When the angel appeared to Joseph to tell him about the baby Mary was carrying within her womb, the angel told Joseph that the child’s name would be Jesus and then explained why.

Matthew 1:21 "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

1 John 1:8 reminds us that we all are sinners- dingy. But verse 9 of that same chapter reminds us just how we can become white as snow.

1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

It is only through Christ that we can be white as snow rather than dingy.

Pastor Mary Zimmer serves the Grantsville United Methodist Charge (consisting of Brooksville Church and Knotts Memorial Church), and shares her home in Grantsville with her only child, a very spoiled dog named Sugar.